The Month of May —The Month of Me

I was thinking back over the past few months, savoring a sweet mix of relief, joy, and fulfillment at having finally published an entire young adult series. On April 26th, the last book in my Harrowbethian Saga was released. Not only did I write and edit this entire six-book adventure, I illustrated the covers and self-published the crazy story. It was more than I initially set out to do. Now that it's finished, I can hardly stop gazing at the completed saga sitting on my bookshelf. Who knew I had it in me to do something this big? 

Honestly, if you had suggested that I attempt such a feat when I first set out to write a single book, I would have crinkled my nose and thought you were signing me up for a climbing hike where the goal was to reach the end of a rainbow. Yet here I am, basking under the colorful lights where an illusive rainbow has touched ground in my life. An enormous sense of satisfaction comes from accomplishing something so challenging. This truth got me thinking today.

There are other things I would love to accomplish. There are personal attributes I would like to improve upon, goals I long to finally reach, and certain wishes I hope to someday see come true. Most of these goals involve only me, my dreams. I have set them aside numerous times for the sake of priorities. They call this sort of patient procrastination a form of selflessness. They call it being mature and responsible. I don't regret the sacrifices I have made for the benefit of worthwhile people and causes, but I am growing older and feel my determination increasing with age. With my boys reaching adulthood, I find I have greater amounts of time to myself—as well as less time left on this planet—which makes me think that now is when I can and should invest in my own dreams. 

Silly thing—I was thinking about how tomorrow is the month of May, a new month, a new beginning, another stretch of springtime where many things are born and blossoming and sprouting from seed. I had the thought that this should be my month to concentrate on improving certain attributes about myself. Things I want to improve. It should be the month of me. Yes, a month all about me. Not in a selfish, irresponsible, ignore-the-needs-of-others sort of way, but in a growing, developing, mending, and moving-closer-in-line-with-the-person-I-visualize-myself-to-be sort of way. It is possible and it is productive to concentrate on yourself unselfishly—as paradoxical as it sounds. 


So this is my goal. The month of May will be the month of Me. I expect great things from myself. The way I see it, any lady who can write an entire six-book, young adult series must have some magic and muchness in her. Wish me luck. I have things to do.

The End of a Saga—I Miss Them Already

     The final book in my young adult series, The Harrowbethian Saga, has been released as a treat for the imaginations of all avid readers. This day has been a very, very long time coming. For me as a writer, it is a momentous and emotional occasion. I have spent the past twelve years creating the most incredible adventure, which stars the young Queen Eena of Harrowbeth. I have come to know in-depth and personally a host of diverse characters—both friends and foes—who lived together in my mind, laughing, groaning, encouraging, taunting, comforting, and often crying with me.

     On many days, these wonderful characters were the motivation pushing me forward to tell their story. And though it often took stolen moments in a grocery-store checkout line or during lulls at my place of work or in the quiet, late hours of the night, I finally did what they dared me to do: I completed the last heartfelt chapter in their saga.

     It is done.

     So why am I overwhelmed with such joy and melancholy at the same time? I think I know why. Because I will miss my dear friends of so many years. Yes, I will miss Sha Eena’s young, determined, impetuous nature and Derian’s strict, authoritarian personality that could only be tempered by Eena. I will miss Ian, the queen’s dutiful yet jesting protector. I will miss Shanks and his crew of overgrown warriors who laughed like children when in leisure circumstances. I will certainly miss Kira, the spotted Mishmorat whose spirit could never be broken. And I will even miss the self-indulgent and annoying Edgarmetheus whose heart does indeed possess some warped sense of goodness.

     I spent this past weekend reading my book again for the umpteenth time, and I loved every minute of it. Despite knowing how it ends, I laughed and I cheered and I cried a river of tears. You will too. It is a satisfying ending that will leave you contentedly lost in wonder. So after you finish reading the final pages and you naturally continue onto further dreamed adventures with Eena and her companions—oh, be good to them. They are my dear friends.
I miss them already.